Nevada State sends two players and coach to flag football world championship
Nevada State University is sending two players and its offensive coordinator to the IFAF Flag Football World Championship, giving the new program a rare presence on both the women’s and men’s sides of Team USA in Düsseldorf, Germany. Akemi Higa, an incoming freshman, and Brooklin Hill, a junior, were selected for the USA Football Women’s National Team, while Rudy Fernandez was chosen to coach the USA men’s squad.
The selections deepen the profile of a program that only officially launched athletics in Spring 2026, with women’s flag football and men’s track & field as its first competing sports. Higa and Hill were first named to the USA Women’s Flag Football National Team roster in an April 2 Nevada State athletics post, and the school later identified their class years in a July 31 release that also confirmed Fernandez’s role on the men’s side.
For Nevada State, the reach goes beyond a single roster announcement. Higa and Hill now enter a national team setup that will send the women to Germany next week for the world championship, while Fernandez joins a men’s staff preparing for a tournament that has become one of the clearest barometers for elite international flag football. USA Football invited 24 athletes to men’s training camp before the final 12 were set to make the trip to Düsseldorf, underscoring how difficult the path is at this level.
Germany brings its own competitive history into the event. The host nation has twice finished as runner-up in the men’s competition, including silver at the inaugural IFAF Flag Football World Championships and again in a later edition, a reminder that the Americans will face a deep and established field. With flag football scheduled to make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028, the world championship carries added weight for players and coaches trying to lock in their place in the sport’s next stage.
For Nevada State, the selections show how quickly a young college program can become a pipeline to international competition. Higa and Hill give the women’s team two players from the same campus, and Fernandez’s appointment extends that influence to the men’s side, signaling that the school’s development model is already producing national-team-level talent and coaching.